1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to preprogrammable telephone dialers, and specifically to a dialer unit that can be preprogrammed by a programming module that releasably couples with said dialer.
2. 2. Description of the Prior Art
It is a very common business practice for companies to give specially manufactured gifts to clients and prospective clients in an effort to generate more business. These gifts are generally inexpensive items that have been customized to carry company logos, addresses, telephone numbers and similar materials.
An entire industry has developed to manufacture these "give-away" items. This industry is known generally as the specialty advertising industry. The variety of ornamental and functional gift items manufactured in this industry include business cards, pencils, calendars, clocks, and calculators. One very important goal of the specialty advertising industry is to make a company's phone number easily accessible to potential clients.
A variety of repertory dialers are currently available in the market place. These repertory dialers have a keypad that allows the operator to program the dialer memory with a plurality of selected telephone numbers. When the operator wishes to dial a particular number, this number is retrieved from the repertory dialer memory through use of the keypad. Next, the operator places the repertory dialer speaker in close proximity with a telephone mouthpiece and then causes the repertory dialer to produce a sequence of audible dial tones that correspond to the selected telephone number. Thus, the repertory dialer eliminates the task of physically dialing the desired number with the telephone keypad.
Repertory dialers have several inherent limitations that render them useless as specialty advertising give-away items. First, the keyboard on a repertory dialer is generally an expensive item which often renders the repertory dialer too expensive for specialty advertising use. Second, the keyboard on a repertory dialer greatly increases the size of the repertory dialer, often making the repertory dialer too large and cumbersome for specialty advertising use. Third, while repertory dialers can be programmed with a particular desired number, the potential customer can reprogram the repertory dialer with a different number through use of the keypad on said repertory dialer, destroying the advertising value of the dialer.